National Recovery Plan for the Mountain Pygmy-possum Burramys parvus Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning . Prepared by the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. Published by the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Canberra, May 2016. © Australian Government Department of the Environment 2016 This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. ISBN 978-1-74242-487-3 (online) This is a recovery plan prepared under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, with the assistance of funding provided by the Australian Government. This recovery plan was prepared by the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, with Peter Menkhorst (Vic Dept. of Environment, Land, Water and Planning); Linda Broome (NSW Office of Environment & Heritage), Dean Heinze (Consultant Wildlife Biologist); Ian Mansergh (Consultant Wildlife Biologist), Karen Watson (Department of the Environment) and Emily Hynes (Consultant Wildlife Biologist) as lead contributors. This Recovery Plan has been developed with the involvement and cooperation of a range of stakeholders, but individual stakeholders have not necessarily committed to undertaking specific actions. The attainment of objectives and the provision of funds may be subject to budgetary and other constraints affecting the parties involved. Proposed actions may be subject to modification over the life of the plan due to changes in knowledge. An electronic version of this document is available on the Department of the Environment website www.environment.gov.au. Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence that may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. For more information contact the Department of the Environment General Enquiries 1800 803 772 Citation: Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. 2016. National Recovery Plan for the Mountain Pygmy-possum Burramys parvus. Australian Government, Canberra. Cover photograph: Mountain Pygmy-possum (Burramys parvus) by Fredy Mercay. References in the plan to the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) refer to the former Victorian department now known as the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). 1 Contents Summary ................................................................................................................................... 3 Current Status ............................................................................................................................ 3 International Obligations ............................................................................................................ 3 Species Description ................................................................................................................... 3 Distribution and Populations ...................................................................................................... 3 Important Populations ................................................................................................................ 5 Habitat ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Biology and Ecology .................................................................................................................. 9 History of Decline..................................................................................................................... 11 Existing Conservation Measures and Management ................................................................ 18 Management Practices and Policies ....................................................................................... 20 Recovery Objectives ................................................................................................................ 21 Performance Criteria ............................................................................................................... 23 Actions ..................................................................................................................................... 24 Program Implementation and Evaluation ................................................................................ 33 Interests Affected by the Plan .................................................................................................. 33 Role and Interests of Indigenous People ................................................................................ 33 Social and Economic Impacts ................................................................................................. 34 Biodiversity Benefits ................................................................................................................ 34 References .............................................................................................................................. 35 Priority, Feasibility and Indicative Costs of Recovery Actions ................................................. 41 Figure 1. National distribution of the Mountain Pygmy-possum................................................5 Figure 2. The distribution of boulderfields in the Kosciuszko Plateau region of southern Kosciuszko National Park..........................................................................................................6 Figure 3. The distribution of Mountain Pygmy-possum habitat in Victoria.................................7 2 Summary The Mountain Pygmy-possum Burramys parvus is one of the smallest Australian possums and is endemic to the alpine and subalpine regions of south-eastern Australia, where it is restricted to three geographically separated locations: Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, and Mt Bogong-Mt Higginbotham and Mt Buller in Victoria. The most significant threats to this species are habitat loss and fragmentation, predation from cats and foxes and climate change. The Mt Buller population is particularly threatened due to its small population size. This is the first national recovery plan prepared for this species, and details its distribution, habitat, threats and recovery objectives and actions necessary to ensure its long-term survival. Current Status The Mountain Pygmy-possum is listed as Endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). It is also listed as Endangered under the New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 and as Threatened under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. The species is also listed as Critically Endangered on the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. International Obligations This plan is consistent with the aims and recommendations of the Convention on Biological Diversity, ratified by Australia in June 1993, and will assist in implementing Australia’s responsibilities under that convention. Species Description The Mountain Pygmy-possum Burramys parvus (Broom 1896) is the largest of the five species of pygmy-possum (Family Burramyidae). It has a head-body length of 10–11 cm, a tail length of 13–15 cm and adults weigh from 35–80 g. The dorsal fur is uniformly mid-grey, tinged brown; the underparts and cheeks are cream or fawn. Conspicuous black patches surround the dark, round eyes. The tail is thin, pinkish-grey and naked except for the basal 2 cm which is furred (description from Menkhorst & Knight 2004). Distribution and Populations The Mountain Pygmy-possum is endemic to the Australian Alps IBRA bioregion (sensu DEH 2000) and is the only Australian mammal restricted to alpine and sub-alpine environments. The species was first described from fossil skeletal remains found at Wombeyan Caves near Mittagong in the NSW southern highlands in 1895 (Broom 1895). A living animal was first discovered at Mt Hotham Victoria in 1966, and populations were subsequently discovered in the Kosciuszko region of NSW in 1970 and on Mt Buller in 1996 (Calaby et al. 1971; Mansergh & Broome 1994; Heinz & Williams 1998). Further fossil remains recovered from caves in Victoria and New South Wales suggest that at the height of the last Pleistocene glacial period (ca. 20,000 years bp) the Mountain Pygmy-possum had a much wider distribution around the snowline of south-eastern Australia. Since that time its range has been contracting with a gradually warming climate and receding snowline (Caughley 1986; Mansergh & Broome 1994). The Mountain Pygmy-possum now occurs in three geographically separate regions: Kosciuszko National Park (South Ramshead to Cabramurra) in New South Wales (Broome et al. 2005; 2013; Schulz 2011; Schulz et al. 2012a,b), Mt Bogong to Mt Higginbotham and Mt Buller in Victoria (Figure 1; Mansergh et al. 1989; Heinze et al. 2004). Animals in the Mt Bogong to Mt Higginbotham region are divided into three sub-populations: Mt Bogong, 3 Bogong High Plains and Mt Higginbotham/Mt Loch (Mansergh et al. 1989). These three groups are effectively isolated from one another by low elevation valleys containing unsuitable habitat for the species. Total population size (including a rough estimate of
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